for the record....

covid etc

Volunteer workers have always under government rules and guidelines been able to do work that the volunteer operation thought was essential

This is to record that the volunteers at Old Lodge have followed this throughout the pandemic.

Initially when numbers were very small we could treat our working as personal exercise in open spaces, as well.

I have not recorded work at old Lodge during the pandemic, until SWT issued a suggested new daily report form.   Since then I have on a trial basis recorded all our work and made it available for SWT head office.

I will at sometime record these here.  I have no evidence whether or not they are being seen or used by SWT head office.  

I would like to thank all who participated in this essential work for their efforts and support.

M

tree cut down at kissing gate

Last Tuesday we cut down a dead birch at the kissing gate.  The main trunks are still there on the ground.

This tree died sometime over the winter, and one of the top branches snapped in a recent gale, but did not fall to the ground.  This was dangerous, and the best action was to cut it down while most of the wood was still sound.  No idea why the tree died, though it was on the oldish side.

The broken branch could have fallen anytime onto visitors entering or leaving the reserve, being directly above the kissing gate.

Because the brash has been collected together to form a habitat pile, it would not be immediately obvious that the tree was dead.

Used a two man saw to fell the tree, and earthed the stump so as not to draw attention.  Habitat pile is in the near corner. A smaller birch had to be taken out to make felling safe.

The stumps of the trees are left at roughy 3 foot, as this makes them more obvious and less of a tripping hazard.  They will become useful dead standing wood for insects etc.

We will be doing a bit more work on it next Tuesday to collect some logs for volunteer perks, and probably to make a sitting place of the main trunk.  This will make it safer as people won't tempted to clamber over it.

Thanks to visitors who either braved the kissing gate or went the scenic route of the nearby gate during operations.

Thanks to person who reported the dangerous branch.

Martin

three words

For the fire brigade we are tending to use three words for giving them our position.  This seems to work quite well.

Not totally sure where our three meter Square area is but somewhere near the cottages.  Much easier than roads and place names or coordinates or post codes.

Gossiping compound hears

Adjective noun verb

GCHQ might help one remember

While I am at it, please remember that post codes in a sparsely populated area is hopeless on satnav.  Just do not use. We get a lot of lost souls looking for ghylls lap coming down the lane.

Martin

now accepting new volunteers

I just heard that SWT are allowing new volunteers to join the gang.

People are welcome to turn up on any Tuesday for a test run.  

Martin